Notes in Lunch Boxes

Another Encore Week post…. This one is my favorite because it’s one of my fondest memories of my mom and of my kids…

I enjoy celebrating special occasions as much as the next person but I also enjoy making ordinary days more memorable with simple unexpected gestures. To my son that may mean the smell of bacon from the downstairs kitchen when he gets up in the morning for school. Give that boy two slices of hickory smoked bacon and he is in “hog” heaven. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Let him take an extra slice or two in his pocket to school and he is on cloud nine.

I do this now because my mom did it for me. She used to put notes in my lunch box every day when I was in elementary school. She would have tea parties for us in the afternoons and whenever you needed cheering up, she always had some little trinket ready. The little things she did made such a difference in my life. I often find myself thinking of something she said or did and I use the idea with my own family.

I’ve also been known to come up with my own surprises. Sometimes I warm up towels for my hubby and kids before they finish their shower or make sandwiches in funny shapes or whip out a long awaited DVD for family movie night. Some things I do make the family laugh. Other things I do embarrass them but I’m convinced they will thank me later. Regardless, I think every day should be made special and it doesn’t take something extravagant or expensive to make it so. It just takes love and attention. I learned that from my mom.

One year, our wedding anniversary was on a Tuesday. I hadn’t planned much since we’d had a special meal on the previous Saturday but suddenly I felt God leading me to make this night special for our whole family. It was a day to celebrate and our kids needed to enjoy it as much as we did. It was an opportunity for a memory to be made.

I decorated the large table in the formal dining room complete with the good china, silver, crystal and candles. I located various memorabilia from our wedding and included it in the table scape. I made my husband’s favorite meal and baked his favorite cake. When the kids arrived home I explained that we were celebrating a special day in the history of our family and we all dressed nicely for dinner. When my husband walked in the door, we surprised him and enjoyed good food, old stories and lots of laughs.

As we were nearing the end of the meal, my son asked if we could do this every week! I used the opportunity to explain the importance of making memories with your family. Sometimes those memories include nice dinners with fancy china but sometimes those memories involve a simple note in your lunch box. Perhaps they will remember how anniversaries were made special and they’ll take those memories into their own relationships. If we as Godly parents don’t teach our children about love and family, the world will.  My mom taught me that too. Regardless, of what we do to make the day special, it’s more important that we make the people we love feel special every day. Thank God for moms who take the time to teach us and put notes in our lunch boxes!

You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. ⁷ In everything set them an example by doing what is good.   Titus 2: 1-7